A swarm of enemy robots have their sights set on you, but thankfully, you have the weapons to defeat the horde.

By Desmond Madison, Greenlit Content

The lead entry point for what’s planned to be a grand-scale “Black Shield Universe” full of dazzling sci-fi combat, Black Shield: Uprora Story puts players in the heat of battle with some of the most impressive visuals on the platform.

Developed by Shanghai Vsensory Network Technology, this intense action epic is chock full of gunfire and explosions with robots coming at you from around every corner. There's something lost in the chaos though, as this shooter tends to lose focus in its execution across its roughly one hour, four-mission long play time. The visuals are the absolute standout, and while not wildly original, you’ll be treated to dual-wielding weapons as you teleport from spot to spot eviscerating and decapitating alien robots on the warpath along the battlefield. With dialogue that doesn’t seem to be intentionally cheesy, and more-so lost in translation, there’s a noticeable lack of authenticity to the voice acting in this version of the game, though the developers have noted that they are looking into hiring new talent for future updates to the game and story.

Gunplay is key in a forward-moving, relatively on-rails action-shooter like this, and for the most part, Black Shield does a serviceable job of keeping you stopping and popping along every wall as the waves of different colored robots run in your direction. Their color varieties are important, with yellow and red ready to bust your skull melee style, while white, blue, and orange use pistols, shotguns, and rocket launchers, respectively. Make sure you’re aiming for their heads to take them all out before you’re toast, and don’t miss the chance to rip the heads off these fiends with your bare hands and use their torsos as body-shielding bullet sponges.

Black Shield: Upora Story

This will be pretty rinse and repeat for a good three quarters of the game, and the rest of the time you’ll be trying your hand at stealth missions, taking control of a giant turret, or working as fast as you can to beat the clock to make it to a certain point along the battlefield. The A.I. itself isn’t the smartest and a lot of the action is scripted, making for few surprises on your second run through the game, but that still might be enough to satisfy those out for some over-the-top, trigger-happy eye candy.

Black Shield: Upora StoryVisually, Black Shield: Uprora Story is an absolute showpiece, but right now with a short campaign and some repetitive and less than inventive action, the team at Vsensory have already admitted they’ll be putting more work into the experience to extend its length and expand upon its quality. It’s not uncommon for games like this to hit the store and only get better based on player feedback, and thankfully the dev team seems to be listening, so this should grow into an impressive universe of sci-fi action if the team can realize their goals. Until then, maybe only jump in if this genre is all you’re craving.